Bojack Horseman
I just finished watching every episode, and... well that was interesting. I did not expect this show to be this show. Bojack Horseman is a show that made me feel and think things that I didn't think that I'd get from western animation, specifically adult cartoons. I remember in my Mr. Pickles review, I asked the question "when you have the whole palette of the human experience, why do you choose to paint the entire canvas in shit brown?" Well, Bojack Horseman is a show that uses the whole palette of the human experience. Even though it's about a horse. At first, I didn't think that I'd like this show. Most people agree that the first few episodes are not the best. In fact, they're probably the worst episodes of the show. Not that they're bad per se. They're about as good as average modern Family Guy. We see 22 minutes of people acting like assholes that may or may not be funny. To top it off, the animation in season one wasn't too strong. However, I think that that was intentional. The premise of the show seems to be "what if the characters from Family Guy had to suffer the consequences of their actions." Bojack Horseman has the strongest continuity that you'll ever see in a western cartoon - even more than Avatar, which told a continuous story. A small joke can roll down into a huge storied plotline. The show is about Bojack Horseman, a washed up celebrity who worked on a family sitcom, very reminiscent of Full House, basically dealing with how far his life has fallen and the path of self-destruction he's had for the past twenty years. Because of Bojack's distorted picture of reality, he (at least earlier on) tends to believe that his adventures will resolve cleanly in the span of 22 minutes and everything will be hunky dory the next day. And whenever he gets like that, life will shit on him, and he'll probably be dealing with the consequences of that in the next episode. Property remains destroyed, and people remain hurt. Bojack tries to make up with people he's hurt in the past, and a lot of the times they don't forgive him. Not out of malice or because the world hates him, but because they've kept tabs on every time that he's screwed them over. The show is cold and unflinching. One episode is about Bojack and an aspiring creator being told that they can't make a movie a specific way that they want, and the whole episode is about them defying their boss. They break into a building, and stage a robbery that leads to a violent shoot-out in order to do this. And Bojack gives what he later describes as the best performance of his life. Because of this, the creator gets fired for disobeying the orders of her supervisor. The show is notable for having bombshells being the last line of the episode that invariably leads to the characters dealing with a horrible problem, or just crushing their optimism, and you want to keep watching because you're wondering how they'll deal with in the next episode. It's a deep show. Like, despite half of the main cast being anthropomorphic animals, these characters act the most human I've ever seen animated characters have. The show is largely about the idea of choices and dealing with the consequences of them, and what will really bring us happiness, and what's our meaning in this world. It's not blinded by idealism. In this show, there's no way to depower Fire Lord Ozai for instance. The main character would actually have to kill him, and deal with the guilt of that. Or, he would be stopped by guilt and have to deal with the consequence of losing the battle. There are definitely heartwarming moments in the show, and some uplifting endings. But a lot of the show is watching screwed up individuals trying not to be so screwed up anymore. Like, the least damaged character of the show is Todd - he's basically a homeless guy who ended up at one of Bojack's parties and never left for five years; a person with no job, has never had success, and no ambitions of doing anything but playing video games at all. Characters we think are well-put together end up being more broken that Bojack; they're just better at hiding it. You're lead to believe that this show is a lot like Family Guy, but honestly, it's more similar to Daria. One of the characters even looks like Daria, and they do make a joke about that. No, that isn't quite right. Bojack Horseman is what it would be like if Daria made a cartoon. As for Bojack Horseman... he's the kind of character you both want to succeed at life, but you don't. He's kind of like House, especially in the middle seasons. I can't really describe this through writing, I'm going to do a review on it. However, picking an episode proved difficult. The best episodes have mountains of continuity. "That's Too Much Man", "That Went Well", "Brrap Brrap Pew Pew", "The Shot", "Escape from L.A.", "Downer Ending". I would all love to review all of these episodes, and I might do a top 10 list... because to be honest, I think that this might be my favorite cartoon of all time - definitely my favorite of the decade so far. As for adult cartoons, it is absolutely my favorite of all time. The episode I'm reviewing is "The Telescope." It's the episode where the realism really hits, and it shows better than all prior what kind of show Bojack Horseman wants to be. On top of that, it doesn't require an amazing amount of continuity. I can describe it much better in a video than I can hear. So, next atrocity, Dorbees. Next admirable, The Telescope - Bojack Horseman. Don't know which is coming first. I really want to do this show justice, and it's... not easy. Category:Miscellaneous